Shanghai TCM practitioner held over 6 million yuan investment scam

A practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was detained in Shanghai after she’d managed to swindle her patients out of six million yuan, Shanghai Daily reports.The woman, surnamed Deng, opened up a TCM clinic in 2003, after which she became a popular figure in the community. Despite this, her clinic was losing business, and by 2009, Deng sought help from her patients.She requested loans from her patients, usually between 10,000 and 100,000 yuan, and promised five percent interest.One man, surnamed Shan, had agreed to lend the woman 1.3 million yuan last year after she told him that she had to sort out a minor business problem.“I never thought she would swindle me as she was well known for her good nature and kind heart,” he said.When Chan was unable to contact Deng, he went to the clinic and discovered more victims of her scheme.Deng is now being held and investigated on accusations of illegal fund-raising.In May, two men in Shanghai who used bogus TCM practices to dupe customers out of over 90,000 yuan were sentenced to one year in prison each. In many cases, the pair told people they were suffering from bone spurs, and the “doctors” would perform a cupping procedure and show patients tiny fish bones to convince them that it worked.[Image Credit: SuperFantastic]